


begin again

by lucastown



Series: mileven one shots [5]
Category: Stranger Things - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Mileven, Taylor Swift song, el dealing with her past, good boyfriend mike, mileven one shot, my actually babies, my inner swiftie is strong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-07 10:46:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20308210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucastown/pseuds/lucastown
Summary: “ but on a wednesday in a café,i watched it begin again.”





	begin again

**Author's Note:**

> so i’m not sure why this one was so popular on wattpad but it holds a special place in my heart because “begin again” was my surprise song for the reputation tour so enjoy!

" you throw your  
head back laughing  
like a little kid." 

happiness was a weird sensation that seemed to overwhelm her mind and body every time she even thought about the lanky teenage boy. 

and because she thought of him so much, his enchanting eyes, his laughter, his freckles, everything about him, that sensation seemed to overwhelm her quite often.

even though the feeling happened quite often that didn't mean she didn't find it odd. 

she definitely found it odd.

especially since he was the first person she ever felt such feelings with. 

before she had met him on that fateful night in 1983, she had felt nothing, void, empty. 

like a complete darkness loomed above her, haunting her, making her life almost unbearable. 

but when she was with him, it was as if she hasn't lost 12 years to that darkness, as if she was a normal teenager.

a normal teenager, reckless, rebellious, crazy, and most importantly, madly in love. 

and on a wednesday, sitting next to him on her bed in the small cabin she was confined to for at least 11 more months she realized how much the boy meant to her. 

" i just can't believe that she could be such a-a bitch!" mike said, stopping once he realized that he had sworn in front of el, he usually tried not to. "s-sorry el, didn't mean to swear." 

the brunette stared at him, vaguely remembering the word from her time in chicago. "bitchin?" she asked, biting at her soft, pink upper lip. 

the freckled boy tilted his head at el, not understanding how she knew what 'bitchin' was. 

"n-no, not bitchin, a bitch." mike said, shaking his head. 

"bitch?" el asked, one of her brown curls falling in between her eyes. 

"y-yeah a bitch is like someone who is doing something bad or annoying or just plain mean." mike explained. 

el didn't understand, why would kali call her 'bitchin' if it meant bad? 

"i-i guess it can be a good thing like it can mean that you're badass or uh, like really cool." he explained, scratching the back of his neck.

el nodded. "so nancy is a bitch?" she asked, making mike sigh.

"y-yes, i mean no, not really. she can act like one sometimes, i just called her that because she just did that to get on my nerves." mike explained, shrugging his shoulders. 

"hopper can be a bitch too." she said, making mike look at her, a large smile illuminating his face. 

a chuckle escaped his lips, making his head tilt back in laughter. 

the sound was melodic to el, making all of the dreariness, that has entered her system from just an hour ago when she was alone, escape from her body. 

he vaguely reminded el of the small children she saw on tv when they laughed, they always threw their heads back. 

she smiled at him as he continued to laugh at her remark and she had never felt more at ease in her entire life. 

•••

" i almost brought him up  
but you start to talk  
about the movies that  
your family watches." 

mike had something, something so minimalistic and so common that it really shouldn't have upset el but for some reason it did. 

she had remembered papa saying those words to her so many times but how could mike have known that? 

how was he supposed to know that those very words were used against her in so many ways? how was he supposed to know the serve trauma that those words held. 

he couldn't have known. 

she almost brought it up, everything but he continued rambling about the movies that his family watched every friday night when he was younger. 

and surprisingly, that was what el needed. she didn't want or need to talk about her past, she needed a simple thing to get her mind off of everything. 

he was always good at making her feel better, even when he didn't know he was doing it. 

something about his presence, the way he talked, the way his eyes lit up with emotion when he spoke, something about him made her feel so calm and yet somehow so nervous and like every nerve in her body was on fire. 

"mike." she whispered, interrupting him. he stopped to stare at her. 

"yeah, el?" he spoke softly, his smile growing wider.

"thank you." she whispered, grabbing his hand and interlocking it with her own. 

"f-for what?" he stuttered his once pale features turning a soft pink. 

"nothing," el spoke but then shook her head, "everything." she said before nuzzling her head into the boy's shoulder. 

"y-yeah, anything for you, el." he whispered, not really understanding why she was thanking him. 

they sat like that for a few moments, not saying anything, just enjoying each other's presence. 

and in that moment they had no worries in the world, nothing to think about other than each other. 

•••

" i think it's strange  
that you think i'm  
funny, cause he never did." 

she had five months left until she could finally leave the small cabin in the woods and she was beyond ecstatic. 

she was practically bouncing off of the walls everyday and mike couldn't help but think that she was the most adorable human on the planet. 

" mike! are you even listening?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows inwards. 

truth be told, he wasn't. he was busy staring at her enchanting features. her nose that crinkled up when she laughed and her brown hair that had now grown to her shoulders and her soft, deep, brown eyes that he could get lost in. 

"no." he said, guilty. el hit him with a pillow, making both of them laugh loudly. 

"well i was saying how when i get out, i'm gonna make troy piss himself again." el said, looking mike dead in the eyes, her laughter ceasing. 

"really?" mike asked, his jaw dropping slightly at just the thought of el doing that again. 

"no." she shook her head, "i was thinking i'd break his other arm." 

mike broke out in a fit of laughter, making el tilt her head.

she didn't really understand that he wasn't laughing at her and that he was laughing at her remark, laughter was still a relatively new concept for the young girl. 

"laughing at me?" she questioned, tears brimming in her brown eyes. after hearing her, mike stopped laughing and he quickly shook his head. 

"no el, i'm not laughing at you, i would never do that." he quickly assured her, his hand reaching out for her's and quickly connecting them. 

"why are you laughing then?" she asked, tilting her head to one side as she stared at the boy in front of her. 

" because what you said was funny, you're really funny el." he said, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb.

he had just called her funny. 

no one had ever called her funny before. 

"m-me?" she questioned, wondering if she had heard him right. 

he nodded vehemently. "yes el, you are really funny." he said with a large smile. 

she smiled at him widely. 

no one had ever called her funny before. 

•••

" but on a wednesday  
in a café, i watched it  
begin again."

on wednesday, november 3rd 1985, she was finally allowed out of the small cabin in the middle of the woods, her entire body shook with excitement as mike held her hand and lead her to his bike. 

he was taking her out and around town for her first night in the real world. 

she was giddy to sit on the back of his bike once again, to ride around the streets of hawkins, clutching onto him once again. 

the wind hit her face, it was a gorgeous day and el couldn't have been happier. the sky was blue and the sun was shining, it was a perfect, storybook kind of day. 

"you ready, el?" mike asked her, she nodded and sat behind him, wrapping her arms around his torso. he could feel his heart beating out of his chest, he had missed this just as much as she had. 

the ride was too short for el's (and mike's) liking, it was so nice to see the buildings pass by and it was so great to see other people.

soon, they pulled into a little café that mike's parents had been taking him to ever since he could remember. carefully they both stepped off of the bike. 

el stared at the café as mike set the bike in the bike rack. 

she was going to walk in there, she was going to order food for the first time in her life like she had seen others on tv do, she was going to sit down with the boy she loved and she was going to be on a date, like a normal teenage girl. 

she could feel tears brimming at the thought. of course she knew she would never be normal but the fact that her life could finally begin again was extraordinary. 

she felt a familiar hand interlock with her's and she looked over to see the boy who had stolen her heart standing next to her. 

"you okay, el?" mike asked, concern evident in his brown eyes. 

el nodded. "perfect." she whispered and the couple started to walk into the café.

and she meant what she said, everything was perfect. 

her life could finally begin again.


End file.
